


Open House

by nerdfighterwhatevernumbers



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Fluff without Plot, Gen, Modern AU, Not much actual romance, single parent/teacher au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 12:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9607103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdfighterwhatevernumbers/pseuds/nerdfighterwhatevernumbers
Summary: Tucker meets Junior's kindergarten teacher





	

“So there’s gonna be some hot moms there, right?”

“Daaad!”

Junior had been looking forward to his first ever Open House all week, and he was eagerly dragging his father to the front entrance of his school. Tucker was excited too. Junior had trouble talking, reading, sitting still- basically the problems Tucker had as a kid but worse. He was really scared when Junior started school, because preschool didn’t go so well, but Junior loved it. He only had one friend, an older kid he played with at recess, but that’s not as bad as it could be for just a month there. 

Junior was always excited to go to class in the morning and always happy to show Tucker what they did that day. That made the whole thing awesome. He already had about 20 drawings and Learning Our Colors worksheets with “Purrrrrfect!” cat stickers on them covering the fridge.

“Hey man, I wont embarrass you, promise! Just gonna talk to your teacher, meet some parents, and check out that bean sprout thing you’ve been bragging about.”

Junior smiled and held Tucker’s hand as they weaved through the crowd of kids and parents. 

“So what’s your teacher’s name again?”

Junior mumbled something Tucker couldn’t make out between his speech impediment and the crowd. 

“Slow down buddy, what was that?”

He stopped and turned to Tucker, speaking slower and louder.

“Wash-ing-ton.”

“Like the president?”

Junior shrugged and started leading him again.

“So, your teacher cute?” He smirked, half teasing but half not.

He met a few of the teachers before September, but he couldn’t remember which one was Junior’s.

“I dunno- My teacher’s blond and has muscles.”

“First rule Junior: blondes are always cute.”

Fit blonde chick- score! 

They finally came to a room with a sign over it. It was blue with yellow kittens all over and “Washington” printed in big black letters.

They went in and Tucker looked around, but he didn’t see anyone who looked like the teacher. Junior took him to his desk and showed him everything: His name tag, the outer space stickers Tucker got him to make his desk look cool, the picture book with the blue dot for his reading group- then he showed him the book they made in class about the first four letters of the alphabet. It was messy and not as good as some of the other kids, but Junior was proud of it. Tucker could even tell his letters (as bad as they were) were a lot better than when he tried in preschool. It was amazing how much Tucker learned to appreciate things that seemed so small to him since his kid had to try learning how to do them at all.

“Way to go Junior! Look how good you did!”

Junior beamed.

“I can do C real good.”

“You sure can! You’re a rockstar! At this rate you’ll be an expert by the time you get to Z.”

"I wrote my big name too-" Junior pointed to the cover of his book where in messy but painstaking aqua gel pen letters was written _Lavernius Tucker Junior_

"Kid, that name never looked so good."

Tucker used to think it was weird for parents to brag about their kids for stuff like that, but he was so proud Junior had shown so much improvement.

He was being just a bit loud he guessed (screw indoor voices, he isn’t in school anymore) because one of the dads was coming up to him. 

“Mr. Tucker, hi, I’m Junior’s teacher Mr. Washington.”

Okay not a dad. Wait- this was his teacher? Tucker got up from his crouch by Junior’s desk and shook Washington’s outstretched hand.

“Hi. Tucker’s fine.“ 

This dude was definitely not what Tucker expected. In retrospect it probably was weird of him to assume his kid’s kindergarten teacher was a woman, but it wasn’t just that. Washington had muscles like Junior said, but he was thinking “in shape” not “could break my nose without trying”. He was dressed kind of professional, with a button up and his sleeves rolled up showing scars all over his freckled arms. He looked like he’d been in a few fights in his day, maybe ex-military like Tucker. He saw he had hearing aids too. 

"Hi teacher!”

“Hey, Junior.” He smiled warmly at Junior. “You showing your dad around?”

“Uh-huh, he likes my desk and my book and my stuff.”

“Did you show him your plant?”

Junior grabbed a little paper cup with a tiny stem and two leaves coming out of it. "I named it Steve," he declared proudly to both of them.

They talked a bit and Tucker was honestly surprised. Junior loved to talk, but had a hard time finding people he was okay talking to. There was just a handful of people he got excited around like this.

“Junior, is it okay if I talk to your dad for a second?”

Junior looked at Tucker.

“Uh, sure, okay. You wanna go play in the corner or something buddy?”

“Can I see Theta?” He gave Tucker those big puppy eyes but he wasn’t sure he wanted him out of his sight.

“He’s just next door.” Washington reassured him. “We won’t be long.”

“Well, okay then.”

Junior ran through the door into the next room at lightening speed. With how happy it made his kid, he hoped the friendship lasted.

“What kind of a name is Theta?”

“Theodore. Junior had trouble saying his name, so it’s kind of a nickname now.”

“Oh. Well that makes more sense.”

They stood awkwardly for a second before Washington cleared his throat.

“So, about Junior. He’s a great kid, but I’m a little worried about his progress.”

Oh great, not this.

“Look, he can learn fast, but he needs someone to walk him through it sometimes. I think he’s dyslexic or something, I don’t know what, but he can do it if you just take the time to help him out. Or just listen to him when he’s got a question, ‘cause if you give up on understanding him all the time he shuts down. And I’d help him out at home more, but I’m a single parent, I don’t have enough time to-”

“Mr. Tucker, I understand.” Washington said gently but firmly.

Tucker tried to calm down a second. He got pretty defensive when it came to his kid.

“I assure you I always take the time to understand what Junior is saying. I know how hard communication can be for some children.”

Tucker remembered his hearing aids and believed him.

“And I take as much time as I can to work with him, but I have twenty other kids in my class who need help too.”

Now he felt guilty. Junior needed help, but he didn’t want to be the guy that screwed over someone else’s kid ‘cause of his own. He’d been a dad for five years and still felt like he had no clue what he was doing sometimes.

“Okay, so what then?”

“I think it would help if Junior worked with someone after school. Just for half an hour, but I think it really might help. We could meet once every couple of weeks to check in and go from there. The learning center can help him with whatever we’re going over in class. Does that sound okay?”

Sounded easy enough. Well, not exactly, he’d have to figure out if he could clear off more time from work for meetings, and possibly see if he could leave early from now on since Junior couldn’t ride the bus home anymore. Maybe Church or Doc could pick him up- he’d figure something out. Still, better than him having to get held back or picked on or have the teacher just give up on him.

His preschool teacher sucked and never wanted to work with him because she couldn’t understand him. Plus Junior would get mad when he couldn’t write his name or something and the teacher would get pissed at him for being upset. He was four for crying out loud. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the teacher actually took the time to help him, she just left him alone and worked with kids she liked better even though he needed it more. Tucker would be lying if he said he didn’t blame her a little for why Junior used to hate school.

He was kind of wary of Junior starting school and having to go through that again, but this guy was looking out for him. And Junior seemed to really like him, so that was fantastic. They could give it a shot.

“Alright. You help him out after school and we see if that helps?”

“You should still probably help him at home,” Tucker nodded, expecting to do that anyway, “But pretty much. If it’s easier he can come in during lunch or recess instead of after school.”

“Nah- he needs breaks. I’ll ask him about it, but if he doesn’t get to run around for a while he can’t pay attention. Or make friends outside.”

“And I wouldn’t be the one teaching him.”

Great, he’d have to take another risk with a new teacher. Washington seemed to notice the look on his face and quickly continued.

“I think he’ll really like him though, he’s a friend of mine- Theta’s dad. North!”

Washington waved to a tall blond guy coming through the door with Junior and a slightly older kid, second or third grade maybe, with patchy black and white skin who he guessed was Theta. 

“Hey, Wash.” North said.

Junior ran to Tucker and hugged his leg.

“Dad! This is Theta.”

“Hi Theta. Junior talks about you all the time.”

Junior was smiling wider than Tucker had seen in a while. 

“Junior’s dad, right?” North stepped next to Wash and nodded at Tucker.

“Tucker.”

“Did you and Wash get a chance to talk?”

“Yeah, it’s all good.” North seemed nice enough. If he was Theta’s dad Junior would probably love an extra half hour at school. "I like your teacher buddy.“

"You think he’s cute, right?”

Wash made a sound like he was choking and Tucker started to sputter.

“Wait wha-why would-”

“You said so. That’s what you said. He’s blond and that means he’s cute.”

“That’s not what I- I guess I _did_ say that but-“

"Is my dad cute too?” Theta cut in.

“Of course I am.” North was clearly enjoying this, watching Wash fidget where he stood. “Obviously I’m not as cute as Wash here though.”

“Junior, didn’t you have a super cool playground to show me or something?”

He honestly had no clue where to go from here and Junior wasn’t buying the subject change.

North looked at Tucker then smiled mischievously, whispering something to Wash. Wash’s face went red and he could hear him say “‘Not now North” through clenched teeth. Wash cleared his throat.

“I should get to some other parents. We can talk more later. Nice meeting you Tucker.”

“Yeah. Talk to you later.”

On their way out he heard North yell “He’ll call you!”

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to post a few old tumblr prompt fics at once, this was one of them. Only slightly edited from what it was a while ago.


End file.
